Business: Major Athletic Shoe/Apparel ManufacturerNature of Work or Scope and Results

This well known company is one of the largest athletic shoe and apparel manufacturers in the world with hundreds of plants worldwide.

SCG initially trained some of their key manufacturing research personnel on the subjects of lean manufacturing and the design of manufacturing cells. SCG was then invited to give a presentation at a client sponsored world wide leadership conference with executives and invited guests from dozens of Asian plants. The focus of the SCG presentation was "the journey to becoming a world class manufacturer". As a result of that presentation, SCG was asked to review 5 footwear manufacturing plants in Southeast Asia and determine the opportunities for converting to lean manufacturing.

The company subcontracts major manufacturing operations to large Asian owned factories throughout Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and China. Major Taiwanese and Korean conglomerates own the factories. Their typical footwear plants have anywhere from 4,500 to 10,000 employees each.

Fact finding visits and lean manufacturing reviews were performed by SCG in 5 plants in Southeast Asia. These plants employed approximately 30,000 people in total. A report of SCG's findings (the plants were far from world class status) and recommendations was presented to client management. As a result of that work, the company has taken steps to develop lean manufacturing facilities using the Toyota Production System as a model.